Savory or sweet? Junk food or a family recipe? That was the question Gazette staffers debated during a conversation surrounding the supposed end-of-the-world prediction tomorrow: If the world does end, what food will you be sure to eat? In case you haven’t heard, the Mayan calendar predicts the end of the world in 2012, [...]

  CEDAR RAPIDS – Jennifer Schulte’s Christmas cookie exchange is an annual holiday tradition. But it didn’t start that way. “I hosted my first cookie exchange in 2008,” Schulte says. “My husband and I had a new house, and around Christmas time, I said I want to have my friends over and show off the [...]

IOWA CITY – Follow the aroma of food and you’ll find us. Those were my directions to this year’s Concours de Cuisine (cooking contest) at City High School – and they were right. I smelled the lemons for the soufflé au citron long before I entered the family and consumer science classroom. The sound of [...]

With the unexpected announcement that Hostess will be closing its operations, Max Freund went on a hunt for the elusive Twinkie, DingDongs, Donettes and HoHos. Armed with a bag of what may be the last of the iconic goodies, Freund took to the streets to get the peoples’ take on the closures.

The dim glow of a microwave. A meager meal of previously frozen turkey and mashed potatoes. Thanksgiving for one conjures isolating imagery such as this. Or not? I say being solo for the season doesn’t have to mean a dinner devoid of delicious dishes. Buttery mounds of mashed potatoes, succulent slices of roast turkey and [...]

  If an apple a day really does keep the doctor away, I should be in good health through the rest of the year. I recently wrapped up The 2012 Apple Challenge — 31 consecutive days of apple dishes designed to showcase the apple’s versatility. The whole idea stemmed from a bad case of writer’s [...]

  With All Hallow’s Eve on the horizon, Kent Ball looms above a 10-gallon tub of boiling brown liquid. His eyes focus intently on the bubbling concoction, one hand hovering on a nob controlling the heat, the other clutching a plastic oar, diligently stirring. His visage is suggestive of a warlock and his caldron, but [...]

  CEDAR RAPIDS – Foraging for food isn’t something most people think about often. For Rich Patterson, it’s second nature. Patterson became intrigued with foraging for food at an early age and never lost interest. In fact, as director of the Indian Creek Nature Center, Patterson has led multiple programs about foraging. “If you have [...]

It was Robert Birkby who encouraged his wife to answer the advertisement for a weekly columnist in the Shenandoah Evening Sentinel, now called the Valley News. He ignored her when she said she couldn’t write a column, couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to read what she had to say. Instead, he dragged out their [...]